The Federal Polytechnic in Bauchi has terminated the appointments of two lecturers of the institution accused of sexually harassing female students.

This was disclosed by the rector of the institution Yahaya Gumau at its 98th meeting of the polytechnic’s governing council

The dismissed lecturers were Musa Baba Abubakar of the General Studies Department and Adebusoye Michael Sunday of the Nutrition and Dietetics Department.

Gumau, at the governing council’s meeting, dismissed claims that the institution was trying to cover up the matter.

“I welcome you to witness the final verdict of all that have been making waves in the media concerning the issue of our staff who was reported to have been allegedly involved in rape, Abubakar Musa Baba.

“But what surprises me the most is that it is only his own name that is being mentioned. The other lecturer’s name was silent in the media, I don’t know the reason or the rationale behind it,” he said.

A human rights organisation, Prison Inmate Development, had written a letter of complaint to the attorney general and commissioner of justice, which was signed by Japhet Ikita, alleging that the institution’s management was trying to cover up the incident.

“That the lecturer, having defiled one 17-year-old female student was caught red-handed by the rector of the school. He has been accused of sexually molesting many female students and forcing himself on them.

“That for emphasis sake, he was perhaps not ready to stop without applying any form of the big stick, when he was caught red-handed, pardoned and his colleagues apologized to the school management,” a section of the letter read.

He also stated that Baba had used a knife to threaten the student before raping her.

Ikita said the victim lost her virginity to Baba in 2016 when she was 17 years old, adding that she lodged her complaint to the head of the Department of Mass Communication verbally, and she was directed to put it in writing, but nothing was done in that regard to date.

According to the available crime data from Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics, in 2017, there were 2,279 cases of rape and indecent assault reported to Police without convictions.

The rector said the dismissal had followed the report of a committee constituted to look into the matter.

“I directed that the staff be queried which was the next line of action as per the extant rules of our institution as provided by the federal government. But when his reply was not satisfactory, we established a committee to investigate that matter thoroughly to its logical conclusion.

“The Council today, has finally, approved the dismissal of Abubakar Musa Baba from the service of the Polytechnic, Bauchi. Also, Adebusoye Michael Sunday is dismissed from the services of the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi with effect from Saturday on a similar case. That is the decision of the Council on these issues,” he said.

The rector said that the dismissal letters of the erring lecturers would be submitted to the Police and the State Security Service (SSS).

Gumau also added that the two security agencies, which assisted the institution during the investigation, would continue with the case.